Without a regular, reliable supply of affordable power that provides security in the event of a blackout, organisations and industrial facilities are operating in a state of uncertainty where the potential costs to productivity are high. In this article, we are exploring the concept of energy resilience – what it means, why it is valuable and how organisations can achieve it.
What is Energy Resilience?
This is a strategy that is designed and implemented to help ensure a constant supply of electricity to your facility’s network to ensure that production and operations can continue under all by the most severe circumstances. It is about managing risks effectively by eliminating downtime that results from realistic negative energy scenarios like power cuts and surges, poor power supply, costly energy, natural disasters and even human error.
As energy supply changes from outdated centralised infrastructure to renewables and smaller plants, organisations are left to deal with rising energy costs (including transmission and distribution costs), fluctuating supply and risk of blackout during maintenance or repairs.
The Value of Energy Resilience
Building energy resilience in an organisation is a costly investment – but the costs of not adapting to a changing world are much higher. Agility and flexibility are key in a world where critical services – for example, cloud data storage – are relied upon 24/7, and where every competitive edge is needed in order to meet customer demands and succeed within the industry.
It’s also about being able to play a more effective and positive role in your community as a whole. For example, when a peak-summer heatwave strikes and your high-energy use facility is connected to the grid, it is easier to manage your facility’s demand as total energy demand climbs, helping to prevent disruptions to capacity and prevent grid blackouts.
A proactive energy strategy focussing on resilience allows organisations to use energy resources and a strategy lever in expanding their business or accessing new opportunities. When your business can operate independently of the grid, in the face of blackouts, storms and natural disasters, your reliability soars in the face of your consumers and investors.
Energy resilience is not a new thing, but it is an increasingly important thing. One reason for this is increasing concern over climate change, where large organisations and facilities are in the best position to tackle environmental issues by investing in renewables and even making renewable energy available to others. This is an invaluable strategy to win consumer trust and goodwill. Another reason for this is that threats to energy resilience are on the rise. Weather is more extreme more often, terrorist threats are a reality (and energy infrastructure is a priority target), national and regional grids are older and unable to keep up with the increasing demand as economic development increases alongside industrial digitisation.
The cost of a lack of energy resilience are high too, from the disruption of your business, the inability to run during peak production periods or having to temporarily shut your office completely. Market risks are also high, with resilience threats directly impacting your financial performance.
At the same time, energy alternatives are more available and more supported than ever before, with the costs of solar and energy storage decreasing even as the technology increases in effectiveness. Governments are largely onboard, helping to incentivise organisations to save energy and build energy resilience through solar and renewables programs, offsetting the initial costs that can be off-putting.
Interested in Committing to Energy Resilience? Speak to the Quality Energy Team
With over 30 years of industry experience working on commercial and industrial facilities of every size and in every sector, the Quality Energy team is uniquely positioned to assist you in achieving your energy resilience strategy.
We tailor our services to each client’s needs, industry and budget, performing comprehensive audits and risk assessments in addition to custom designing, implementing and servicing our solutions. These solutions range from power factor correction and voltage optimisation to solar power systems and storage.
Contact us today for more information on how we can help your organisation tackle energy challenges effectively.
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